


Caustic

by sightlessxx



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: A few refrences to movies that older people will enjoy, A rhys adventure, Angst, Hacking, M/M, Slow Burn, Violence, first fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-18 02:07:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12378654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sightlessxx/pseuds/sightlessxx
Summary: After getting Jack back to Helios to resume his reign of CEO. Rhys is able to return to his mostly happy life of programming. It stays that way for a good 6 months. Keeping in contact with his friends Sasha and Fiona on Pandora.Until some of the top programmers get sent off to Pandora for business. Finally Rhys gets a message from Handsome Jack for him to go to a Pandoran base. Someone has been hacking random bases and technology by Hyperion. Rhys needs to repair the systems from the rogue elements.Only to find this isn't some easily fixable problem





	1. Denial

**Author's Note:**

> This is something ive been working on before the camp camp fic. So this is my first try at fanfiction.

 

**Caustic Chapter 1**

Denial

_ Hello, this is me talking to you. I'm not sure who you are or if I created you. Maybe you were always there, and I just didn't acknowledge you till recently. Or perhaps I brought you with me. The warning sign of something to come. Are you a/the madness of Pandora branding me for the rest of my life? An empty hole from the Jack AI? Either way when you start talking back to me, then maybe I'll see about remedying myself. _

 

Everything was back to normal for us. We’d survived that deathtrap of a planet. I’d brought back the greatest (unstable) mind the universe had ever known. I got my old job back with a few added bonuses as compensation for my suffering. And now I got to gossip with my friends like a weird married couple. A marriage of 3 people... That sounded weird, even in my head.

 

We're together on floor 31 section B in one of the many lunch areas, one with a wall-length window that gives the room a breathtaking view of Elpis that lights the room naturally. We had sat together in a booth next to the entrance to the elevator so we could get home faster after dinner.

 

Yvette doesn't like to admit she feels lonely eating dinner by herself at home. The truth is, I don't either. That's why I always make sure to bait her into joining me, that way if Vaughn can't join us, I have a backup.

 

Today we were eating fries and burgers like real professionals, as we liked to call ourselves.

 

"So Jerry just got shuttled off too. I swear there are only like 15 people left in that section of programming," I said. It was nice that a lot of the higher-ups in programming were away right now. Made for a more relaxing, if vacant, work environment. You could sneeze and scare yourself with how the sound carried through the room.

 

"Doesn't that bother you? What if Jack is subtly getting rid of everyone just to hire a bunch of new people?" Vaughn inquired.

 

"Well for one Jack doesn't bother with subtlety. He would just as quickly throw a grenade in that building and call it a day." I dipped a few fries in my milkshake and devoured them.

"Plus we have been keeping up with our quotas and workload. We're doing quite well compared to the other departments." I shot a side look Yvette. "Right Commander Botly?"

 

Yvette flinched at the jab at her. She’d sent down at least $25K in supplies to a man claiming to be a military commander, who’d turned out to actually be a bandit that had got a hold of a communicator off a dead officer. I had been able to transfer the blame off to another employee and save her from a probably painful death.

"He sounded like the real deal!" she hissed back at me, pulling the straw in her drink up and down to make a rather annoying squeaking sound. "We've never had a bandit do that before. They usually just try to eat the communicator and yell nonsense into them."

It had still set her department back a good bit. As well as led to a new policy being sent to the requisitions office.

**Dear fellow architects of a better future.**

**Please refrain from sending our supplies to any backwater planet. All transgressions are recorded and filed away under your history. If you are ever found to have sent anything to anyone not directly employed by Hyperion, you willbe removed from your position and deported to an Eridium mine. All known family and friends will also be systematically airlocked. This is the Hyperion guarantee. Thank you for doing such a good job not fucking up completely. Have a good rest of your life cycle.**

**-Hyperion**

_ Needless to say, Yvette owed me big, and I plan to use it to its full potential. I'm not so gracious as to forget about it. _

"Hey what will you do if you get asked to go down to Pandora?" Vaughn muttered. He was staring at his burger, having barely touched it.

I only thought about it a few times. What if I was deployed to deploy to Pandora? Would it really only be that or would it be a cover for something else? When Dawson had gotten the first message, he’d gloated at being chosen for such an honor. It was only after the... I think 14th call that people started getting anxious about it. Are they still working on the job? No transmissions have been received by any of their friends at the base. It could be possible they received some kind of message, but if they have, they haven't said anything. What is going on that they need to hide it from everyone?

_ What would happen if I got asked? Could I just refuse? Of course not. Perhaps make up some excuse... No, don't over think it. _

"Vaughn, I am still a good amount of people down the programming ladder before I 'might' get picked. By then it will more than likely be resolved or someone will return. Let's not overthink this is some kind of big corporate conspiracy. We’re just hoping this is bigger than we think because we want something to talk about." I gave him a reassuring smile, trying to calm his nerves a bit. "We're gonna be fine, that a Bro-mise.” I held out my fist.

Vaughn visibly lightened up, whatever dark mood hung over him only seconds ago dispersing. Returning a righteous bro-fist.

"Ugh!" Yvette made a sound of disgust. "You guys are way too cheesy." She stoodup from her chair to clean up her spot, and brushed crumbs off of her dress, her long painted nails gliding over the fabric. Women were so complicated; I didn’t think I could ever get a hold on how they worked.

"Vaughn, Circuits and Savagery is on tonight. Make sure to watch so we can talk about it."

"Oh sweet!'

\-------------------------------

Back at our shared apartment, we started our ceremony of unwinding ourselves from work to relax for a few hours before heading to bed. A decent sized housing for two friends. 

Vaughn turned on the living room monitor to see what channels were on while his previous meal was reheating. I took off the top layers of my suit, throwing them on a chair next to the kitchen counter before heading over to the couch. Spilling myself across the full sofa, I started to check through my Echo mail, cleaning out spam and sorting everything where it needed to go. I held up my right arm and booted up my hand, the sensation of it powering on too familiar to be anything more than a barely noticeable hum. As it powered on, a light blue halo materialized above my hand, eventually changing to a screen where I could access my emails.

**Candance of Programming, sector B,**

**Thank you, for dealing with that virus in our Coffeemaker. It was a-**

Junk.

**Anthony of Pharmaceuticals, Floor 7,**

**Your eye drops are ready to be picked up. Please re-**

Reminder for tomorrow.

There was always so much, even with the filter I installed on my cybernetics to go through most of it for me.

Vaughn shook me to grab my attention, holding out a blue bowl for me to take.

"Thanks bro, you are too kind to me," I grabbed it excitedly from his hand to set it in my lap. Inside was an assortment of chips and underneath were hidden chocolate pieces. It was a delicious game we called “The Excavation,” where we would dig through the chips to find the chocolate. Vaughn motioned for me to move over so he could sit next to me, retrieving the controller for the monitor.

"Think there's anything from Pandora airing? They always seem to do artsy films down there," I asked.

"All they do is film each other running over skags. It's quite sad that they find that entertaining. I wanna see if there's any reruns of that show we were watching yesterday."

"The one Yvette showed you? You do realize that's a chick flick. She was just showing that to you as a joke. Do you actually dig that kind of drama?" I snickered to myself.

"Harley's plight was one that made me feel for her!" He countered. Wow, he was really invested in it.

A chime went off in my head, reminding me I hadn't turned off my cybernetics. I sighed, I hated getting notifications when I was trying to chill. I opened the Echo; it took me a good few minutes to fathom exactly what my eyes were reading.

"Vaughn,"

"Yeah?"

"We're not gonna be fine,"

**Programmer Rhys of Floor 39 Section A**

**You are to be deployed on a business trip to Pandora. This order is non-refusable. You will report the Shuttle bay #2 on Friday at 9am. You may bring a suitcase for your belongings. No one is allowed to accompany you on the trip or to the bay itself. More details will be given regarding the job at a later time. Do not reply to this message.**

**-Hyperion/ Handsome Jack**

I showed him the email, and in an instant, our pleasant atmosphere was replaced by nervous tension.

"You lied to me," Vaughn shook his head at me in disbelief, distressed just as much at the news as me.

"Hey, I didn't go out of my way to ask Jack if I can be considered next! There was statistically no way I could have been picked yet," I glanced at my cyber hand again. Rereading the message over an 8th time before closing my hand and letting it rest at my side.

I propped up my flesh arm and leaned my head on it, closing my eyes as I felt just how exhausted the whole ordeal had made me.

"Well, what are you gonna do!?"

_ The same question I didn't want to ask myself since the whole programmer deployment started. I denied that I would ever have to deal with it at all. Even going out of my way to depreciate my ability in work. Self-preservation from this unknown factor. Not like I could call in sick. _

"I’ll leave here at 8:30 to get to the bay 3 minutes early."

"That's not an answer Rhys. We need to call Yvette."

"And that'll do what?"

Vaugh’s face was bright red. He was practically having a panic attack in his seat, as he panted.

"I just don't want you to die," The accountant was near tears, casting his gaze down on the carpet floor.

_ He was acting as if I was dying right in front of him. Was he overreacting? Or was I not comprehending the situation. If you were in my position what would you do? _

"I’m not dead yet Vaughn, and I’m not going to die either!"

I reached out and grabbed his muscled shoulders in an uncomfortable grip, shaking him to gain his attention.

"Fact is, I'm gonna have to go down there and do my job, whether we like it or not. And if we try to pull a fast one him, we're going to get hurt. If I think of something before Friday, I'll let you know. That's all we can do right now Vaughn."

He gnawed his cheek, eyes darting over my face. Searching for something I wasn't sure of. His breath eventually evened out to a steady rhythm.

"Can we call Yvette still please?"

_ If it would make Vaughn feel better, I'll indulge him. Making him happy ultimately made me feel secure as well. _

"Sure, but let's do that tomorrow.  I'm tired and have work in the morning." Taking my arms away from him, I stood up from the couch.

 

"I'm going to bed now. See you before work." I waved to him as I left.

 

"Yeh, sure."

 

I had absolutely no control over the coming day's events. And that was frustrating. Any way you hashed it, I was fucked. There was no way of knowing what would happen once I got to the bay. Was there any amount of preparation I could do within the next 24 hours that could make a difference in my situation? I knew this feeling, stiffening my back and heightening my senses. Anxiety. I was well acquainted with it. When you spent a good sum of your time on a planet so volatile and treacherous, yeah you kinda had to adapt your mentality to survive. The shitty part of it was you couldn’t it back. No matter how bad you wanted to.

 

I had already undressed and was standing at the side of my bed. My skin ached for warmth, preferably 600 thread count sheets and a thick blanket. I was so immersed in my thoughts that I automatically did everything I needed to do to lay down. Sliding into the covers, effectively relieving some of the stress from my body, I turned, facing the wall with my back to the door. The lights were off in the room already, and the only sliver of light came from the cracked open door.

 

24 hours to go

 

\-----------------------------

 

_ Maybe I should give you a name. But that's a slippery slope; you're in my head, we have to remember that. This is bad, very bad. I haven’t got anything thing done within the last 5 hours here. Others are noticing too. I’ve already scratched the back of my neck 12 times. A telltale sign that I'm nervous. Attracting attention from my co-workers. They can sense something's off with me. _

 

“Rhys, what’s going on bud?”

 

Joshua was one of the few quality programmers left in our department. An okay human being, but I wouldn’t call us friends. At least I don’t.

 

“I couldn’t help but notice you’re acting weirder than usual. And as your friend, I felt inclined to make sure you're doing ok.” He wore an ugly dark purple button-up dress shirt, with white stripes traveling down.

 

“I’m fine, just distracted today.”

_ Distracted as in debating just sneaking on a shuttle or escape pod. The chances of me surviving on Pandora are very low. Even if I joined up with Fiona and Sasha, I’m not trained for that life. I am a company man, no other identity. Oh, he’s still talking. _

“So what do you think?”

“Sounds pretty solid,”

“Really? I was unsure about it myself. But after talking to you, I think I will ask about changing my seat to one by the window. Thanks Rhys.”

“He’s so dumb,”

“What’s that?”

Shit, I’d said that out loud.

“Tactin, at the window. He doesn’t have enough brain cells to rub together to enjoy that view fully. At least in my opinion.” Saved it.

“You're so right, that’s why you're my number one,” He gave me a solid pat on my arm before leaving, prancing dumbly.

Once he was out of sight, I dusted off my sleeve where he touched me, afraid his dorkiness would rub off on me.

\--------------------------------

Jack sat in a meeting, something about Maliwan’s missing employee and the stupid company’s sales plummeting. He took one look at the data gathered and already knew everything he needed to know. So why was this idiot still talking? It was funny for the first two minutes to see him trip over himself and stand like he had a stick up his ass.

The CEO looked at the slim tablet displaying a timeline of data gathered over the course of 4 months from the new base in Thousand Cuts. He briefly remembered that this was what he was distracted by before scowling at the tablet. He picked up the bowl of complimentary mints and threw itacross the room, causing it to shatter against the wall. Glass and mint flew everywhere. The idiots in the chamber all cowered, and possibly pissed themselves in fear. Jack, on the other hand, was too busy scowling at the device to notice.

“What does it take..” he growle.

“E-excuse me-e sir?” the speaker whimpered.

“For you stupid skag-licks to do your jobs!” Standing up from his chair, he slammed his hands on the table. AT least it shut the idiot up. Everyone was already swallowing their tongue and flattening themselves against their seats.

“Oh sorry sorry, you ladies are probably racking your brain trying to figure out what I’m talking about. That’s my bad.” The President sat back down and crossed his arms over his chest breathing out through his nose. He took a moment to contemplate his next words carefully. The employees in the room dared not twitch a muscle.

“What your poor boss is talking about, is, when, you pay people to do one thing, they do the one thing. You have one job, right? So you’d think you want to do it well, right?” Jack stood up and began to paced over to the speaker, striding over with an air of malice.

The poor guy lost all color in his face, eyes focused solely on the advancing CEO. The rest of the staff were thanking whatever deity they worshipped that they weren’t that man. Jack stood inches from him, towering over the short, pudgy man. Raising his toned arms, he reached for the Hyperion employee, and grasped the man by the shoulders.

“You... You can do your job can’t you?” A smile was climbing Jack’s face. Blue and green eyes glinting maliciously.

“Yeah you can. You're doing it right now aren’t you shorty.” The speaker shook his head hastily.

“Good boy” Withdrawing from the man.

Spinning on the heel of his sneakers to face the rest of the board. Gaze is sizing up every individual.

“You know what we need here fellas? And yes that’s a question, so someone better answer or I bleed the lot of you from your feet.” The staff casting terrified eyes on each other. A red haired man is raising a hand shakily.

“M-more men that can d-d-do their j-job? The Accountant's head choked out.

Jack rolled his eyes, and let out a groan of annoyance.

“Are you fucking kidding me? I pay you guys to play Simon says? And no, son of taint... Go kill yourself just because how sad that answer was.” He tucked his hands into his jean pockets.

“Morons! I think we need more women in here! Because they have more balls than you pussies! Yeah, they can probably do your job better and get me half hard while explaining what I can already read on your stupid power points.” Jack reached over and grabbed the head of  Advertising by the collar. Drawing a gold pistol, popping the muzzle into the employee’s mouth. He let out a muffled scream of pain. Face contorting in agony. Blood was trickling down his chin onto the conference table. The gun must have caved in his top teeth when being forced into the man’s mouth.

“Do you have any idea how annoying it is to hear you dip-shits talk about absolutely nothing. Heh, sometimes I daydream about all the other ways you guys can utilize that mouth for.” A feral look washing over the CEO’s appearance, the side of his mouth twitching faintly.

It took the Executive of internal affairs a whole 15 seconds to realize he was covered in brain matter. Stifling a sob as he tried to hold his hand to stop himself from shaking. The others are trying not to gag at the sight of the freshly executed man.

“Oh shut up. And one of you guys call a janitor or something.” Jack hopped back over to the speaker and grabbed his clammy hand.

“Hey, just wanted to be the first one to congratulate you being promoted to head of.. Whatever that guy over there used to do.” Taking the man's shirt to wipe off the blood on his gun.

“Now all of you get out! I’m getting a twitchy finger over here.” The staff rushed to leave the room as quickly as possible. Pushing and shoving one another as they moved with urgency, the CEO is watching with a toothy grin on his face.

The chairs still spinning after everyone else vacated the room. The president sat on the table, looking over the data on the tablet. The whole crisis with these viruses was stressing him out, making him even more irritable than usual. And no success so far to fix any of it had him over the edge. To be honest, he wanted to deal with it himself day one when the first complications came in from the Frozen Wastes base. Jack being the best at all technical aspects. But with only recently getting back in charge, and being busy with putting everything back on track. Ultimately decided to hand it off to someone while he resurrected Hyperion back to what it should be. Now it came back to bite him in the ass, like everything else in his life. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.

He decided to send Rhys to the most recent attacked facility. The only person he had faith in, out of the entirety of Helios. It was weird for him the first few days, not being attached to the brunette as in A.I. Eventually growing used to being independent once again, he still found the man coming back to his thoughts repeatedly. The kind of presence he had on his conscience that caused him to momentarily pause during the day, to think about the programmer. Being so busy that he’s only been able to steal glances when happening to be in the same room as Rhys...

I want to talk to you again.

\-----------------

_ I have four red ties, seven different dress shirts. Is that overkill? How often will I be outside? Rhys you have already thought through this six times over now. It doesn’t matter how many socks, or the diversity. And stop talking to yourself when next to an executive! _

“So where are you heading to anyway?” The well-dressed man asked next to him. The executive just wanted to exude pressure on the programmer. Sticking his chest out to rub his superiority in Rhys face.

Rhys could care less about buttering up to the employee. As most lower tier people liked to do, putting on a good appearance for these people. As he knew it right now, grasping the handle of the suitcase next to him. He was heading to the bay, riding the elevator with the fellow worker.

“Sorry I can’t divulge that information. I got orders from the top; you know how it is.”

“That's a shame, I thought maybe you’d be more fun. Guess I was wrong.”

“Yeah, and I thought your mom would be prettier. But I guess we're both disappointed.”

The man’s eye grew wide with surprise and just pure awe. Taken aback and unsure how to respond. It was new for a man of his status to be talked to in such a way.

The elevator door slid open as Rhys arrived at his location. The programmer left the elevator, his boots clacking across the floor. He looked around the expansive room. Ships tucked orderly next to each other, impressive, and expensive. His eyes peered on the numbers marking the different exits. Although he didn’t need to seek that hard, as his ears picked up voice. A small platoon of infantrymen was chatting next to a spacecraft.

“So the other day I was going down on my girlfriend. And I said to her jeez you got a big pussy. jeez, you got a big pussy. She said why did you say it twice? And I said I didn’t.”

The other soldiers looked at one another. Seemingly very confused.

“Heh.. you see because of the echo.” He trailed off. Finicking nervously with his gun.

Finally one started laughing whole heartedly. His voice was carrying across the entire bay. I walked up to the soldiers. Holding myself with prestige and confidence.

“Hey guys, nice morning we're having,” I announced coming up to them, sneering.

One of the Infantry men pulled out a device, powering up the machine to examine something on the screen. He pointed at me and nodded to the other people. Advancing toward me, wow he was a lot bigger up close. And since I couldn’t see his face, his presence was more off putting.

“You’re Rhys.”

It came off less like a question and more like a command.

“Yes I am.” The words were fumbling from my mouth.

He motioned with his head toward the nearby Spaceship. “We're boarding now.”

 

\-----------------

The shuttle made horrible snapping sounds as we broke the atmosphere. I still haven't gotten used to riding between any two locations with space involved. The pressure was pushing on me in all directions. The force sitting heavy on my chest causing me to clench my teeth till my jaw ached. The cabin was silver and black on the inside. The only light coming from the floor, a fluorescent light covered in thick glass, making good use of its interior space. Seats lined the sides, the front control center open to the back. My place right behind the pilot facing the others. The Hyperion ship carried not only me but a few other Hyperion soldiers. Apparently accustomed to this and resting comfortably against the walls of the spacecraft. Enjoying watching my dilemma. I could tell with how they nodded at each other while making gestures in my direction. The temperature was rising in the cabin. It would be over soon. Finally, I felt my weight shift to under me signaling the return of gravity. The ship lurched to the right, jerking my body to the left in my seat. Turning to some direction, I'm not sure of.

**Breeep Breep**

My Echo eye activated on its own signaling a call. This was not the best time.

**Incoming Call From Handsome Jack**

**Receive? -YES/YES**

My hand powered up on its own. I brought it up shakily to my face.

**"Rhys, buddy, you ready for your to do list? Wow, it's been a minute huh cupcake? I remembered you slightly more toned. Well I guess we all can't be perfect. That excludes me, in case you didn't pick up on that."**

It was even more disorienting now that I had this shaky broadcast in my vision. Meanwhile, I was riding inside a confined space as it flew thousands of feet through the air. The air pressure was popping my ears as we descended. I think now I was getting motion sick trying to focus on whatever my boss was saying.

Jack was putting his face closer to the camera, squinting at me.

**"Hey are you getting sick? If you lose your shit while I'm talking to you, I will be personally offended. And totally kill your ass as I'm sure you're aware."**

I closed my eyes and sucked in a deep breath of air trying to regain my composure.

**"Can you just send me an Echomail. It's not a good time sir."** We just hit some turbulence. Shooting me up in my seat. If not for the belts fastening me to my chair I would have flown out and hit the ceiling above me. My head bobbed on my shoulders swaying with the motion of the craft.

Opening my eyes, Jack glared at me. Knitting his eyebrows, seemingly deciding on something.

**"No the information is too sensitive to send that way. I will call you again in 40 minutes. Get yourself together by then."**

"Yes sir."

He already disconnected before he heard my response. The air outside hissing as it raked across the metal of our ship. We cruised as we came in for our landing, my fingers digging into my seat for security.

Needless to it was a perfect landing and flight overall. Everyone un-strapping themselves ready to depart and settle in.

"Is your buckle jammed?" One of the soldier's called. I hadn't even started unfastening myself yet.

"No, I'm just making sure I do not forget anything," I replied trying to fake checking the floor and space around me.

I left our transportation with wobbly legs, pulling my suitcase close behind me. The light hitting my vision and stunning me. Arid wind whipping around me carrying the scent of earth and dried foliage. Forcing my eyes to adjust to the natural lighting rather than our fluorescent bulbs all of Helios was used to. We were in one of the more green areas of Pandora, graced with wildlife and plants. A massive base towering nearby, and a large lake stretching out to other locations. We landed right outside the building with a giant gate facing us. The soldiers I rode in with were next to the gate, talking to some of the base employees. I hurried over to them, hopeful I didn't miss anything.

"Look he made it OK guys," One of the soldiers announced, clapping pronounced.

 

The other Hyperion guards joined in an applause of my arrival. I grit my teeth in embarrassment. Glaring daggers at all of them individually.

"Sorry I was checking to make sure I had everything. When you have a nice paycheck like mine you tend to leave 'minor' valuables behind." I explained straightening my suit and giving a side smile.

They took the hint and refocused themselves of what they were doing earlier. Two men in some strange Hyperion Uniform who were addressing the soldiers, continuing whatever speech they were assigned to give. The Uniforms seemed to be secretary in style but made for the mugginess of this Pandoran biome. With Short sleeve dress shirts, and cropped teal pants that ended just below the knees.

"Check in with Commander Sawyer at the dockyard. Your next six months of schedule will be given to you promptly," The tan blond man explained. Giving the speech with a stoic expression. The gate behind him was sliding open.

"Welcome to the Wildlife Preserve."

Soldiers were walking without much spur in their step to their next job. Taking their time gazing around to comment on different things.

The man next to the blond man let out a sigh of relief, murmuring to his blond coworker.

"I didn't expect the gate to work like it was supposed to this time."

Immediately the blond man kicked him in the shin, hissing his reply.

"We aren't allowed to let them know that. It's a secret for a reason."

The Meeker man was bowing his head in shame and fear of his partner. His skin was sun-kissed burnt from the sun. With dark brown hair. He looked to my direction and whispered to his partner before running towards me, greeting me in high respect.

"Hello, my name is John. It brings me great happiness to welcome you to the Wildlife Preserve."

"Your name is very generic."

"Thank you, sir."

"You’re welcome sir."

 

John looked around us, making sure the other people were leaving. Well except his co worker, who was giving John a sharp look.

"Will you please follow me, sir?"

"What do I get if I do?" I asked, Raising my eyebrow at the man. He seemed taken aback. Unsure what to do.

"Uh..You're the programmer right?"

"I am," I flashed a smug grin.

"I'm supposed to bring you to the executives." John started walking ahead, turning his head to me and nodding to the nearby door. I followed him, tugging my small suitcase behind. He slid a card into a small slot, opening the entrance. Cold air blew out to kiss my skin.

"Follow me."

Together we walked through the hallways. It was rather quiet inside, our shoes clacking on the floor. Every so often an all too familiar female voice would speak over the intercom.

**Don't feed the specimens, unless you are offering yourself to the cause. Then, by all means, please do us all a favor and throw yourself into a nearby tank.**

We passed by large glass exhibits with terrifying creatures inside. Scientists hanging out in the hallways chatting amongst each other. As we took a right at an intersection, my eyes caught a clock.

Jack said he would call back in 40 minutes! How long had it been?

"John!"

John turned around to look at me, green eyes looking me over.

"What?"

"I have to go to the bathroom."

His mouth hung open slightly, looking as if he wanted to say something. But instead closed it and pointed to the left behind me.

"Go back to the hallway we just came from, and it’s on your left."

 

I spun on my heel back towards we just came, and darted into the restroom.

Checking myself in the mirror to make sure I look presentable. Some of my hair was slightly out of place, and there was dried drool on the side of my mouth. Why didn't anyone tell me! Immediately I went about preening myself. Turning on the water to wash my face. Cupping the cold water and splashing my face. Then using the water to fix my hair.

**BREEP BREEP**

**Incoming Call From Handsome Jack**

**Receive? -YES/YES**

Using my arm sleeve, I tried to hurry and dry myself off, my arm whirring to life to ready a video conference.. Jack was sitting at his desk, a bunch of papers stacked under his hands. He gave me a wide toothy grin.

**"Rhysie honey, how we doing? Ready for your homework kiddo."**

"Yes, sir, eager to get started." I nodded giving my best smile.

**"Like the enthusiasm cupcake gotta take off points for kissing ass though."** He was messing with his monitor off screen.

**"Alright so everything I will be telling you, you keep to yourself. Yeah, I know you like to hear yourself talk. But let's all learn how to be a bit more responsible, you're a big boy right?"**

**"So some bandit scum has been fucking with my bases. Hacking our hardware and just causing a whole hoopla of problems for me. And that's a word, by the way, I just learned it from the word of the day app. Where was I?"**

"Hacking the software sir."

 

**"Thanks kitten, as I was saying. These assholes have been messing with all kinds of different bases. So I have been sending you guys to fix it for me. Anddd... nothing has been accomplished thus far. I'm very cranky about all this. Daddy doesn't like failure sweetheart."** He leaned back in his chair to stretch himself out, letting out a yawn.

**"Or paying people that aren't getting anything done. This whole virus situation is causing all manner of progress to slow at the bases. Doors not opening, machines not powering up, yadda yadda. Throws a huge wrench in my perfect system."**

 

**"So as soon as you put a cap in that bitch, maybe we can start figuring where these attacks are coming from. Cause wow, I'm antsy to find out who has the stones to think they can just break my toys."**

_ This whole mystery was fascinating. I admit that I felt special being given insight on this affair. _

“Is there any data or observations you have made that will prepare me for my encounter with the malware?” I inquired.

**“Pfft, child play programming really. To summarise it all, it seems that it has only been able to affect basic functions, so hardware. It has yet to actually infiltrate the software. We need to deal with it before that happens. I’m pretty confident in my coding, don’t get me wrong. I made all this myself… Still, it doesn’t sit well with me for some bandits to be taking pot shots at my network.”**

“I understand, is there anything else sir?”

**“Yes actually. STOP CALLING ME SIR!”** Jack yelled into the mic.

Even when Jack wasn’t here in person, his threatening demeanor still potent. My confidence I built up beforehand drained just like that. The president tilted his head to the side, observing my reaction. A heavy raspy sigh leaving his chest.

**“So how are you doing these days?”**

_ Of all the questions I theorized, this was not among them. Was he trying to fish something out of me I was unaware of? It unsettled me. Like having lunch with a wolf when you're a sheep. _

“Oh, you knoww… Good andd.. Stuff..” Wow, even I could tell it sounded fake. Take a breath Rhys and try again! I audibly took in a gulp of air. Focusing my eyes on anything else.

“It’s nice to have my job back. I have the people I care about close. So yeah I am satisfied with everything mostly.” The words tumbled from my mouth awkwardly. I raised my flesh hand to rub the back of my neck.

**“Mostly?”**

“Well you know, heh, my manager is a total bag of dicks. Could go through my day without him breathing down my neck.” Not really what I wanted to say, but I went with my gut. Locking eyes with my boss again. He seemed pretty happy, which in turn relaxed me.

**“HahhaHA! That’s fair. Can’t stand most of those morons myself.”** His shoulders shook as he laughed in his chair. I couldn’t suppress the urge to join him, giggling myself.

 

A knock on the bathroom door captured my attention. A voice muffled behind the door. “Is everything okay?” That was John; I still need talk with the managers.

**“Go ahead and get back to whatever you were doing before. We’re done here, I’ll check in later sugar. I know you’ll do a great job, Rhys.”** And just like that, he was gone. A blush spread itself across my cheeks. Small kind gestures like that meant so much to me. My greedy self-craving more words.

_ Jack still has that effect on me. _

\------------------

The meeting went well with the managers of the Wildlife Preserve. It was very not informative. Just some well-paid suits trying to sound smart, reading the information from their notes. I already understood what I needed to do. The only thing left to do was go to a system admin terminal and wipe the rouge presence from the servers. How on earth the other programmers failed to do so was beyond me.

Right now John was showing me to my room where I would be staying. Hopefully not some mediocre barracks. My skills were valuable and deserved nice quarters to rest. The section of the base we walked through seemed to focus on the taming of the beasts of Pandora. An adorable sight causing me to hesitate and get close to the giant window.

A scientist stood in the middle of a well-sized habitat. Surrounded by a pack of young skags. The creatures docile and rolled about on the ground. Acting cute and needy. An audible “Awww” escaping my mouth.

John came to my side. Looking into the window to observe the skags.

“That’s a sub project we're working on; Training skags early to operate to our benefit for a later time. Think of like a sleeper agent.”

Then the smallest cutest skag galloped over to the window. Tilting its head as it observed us.

“Hey little guy~.” Next thing I knew it opened its mouth slightly, showing off its gummy mouth.

“I think it’s trying to smile at me. Do skags smile?” A high pitched whistle called the skag back to the scientist, much to my disappointment, it really felt as if we were making a connection.

“The coolest thing I ever saw here was this one time; an alpha skag got aggressive. Trying to bite the scientist in their tank. And the balls on this dude must have been steel because this guy ran up to the skag and started biting down on the thing’s neck. And all of us were sure the dude was gonna die. But he didn’t, the alpha skag started whimpering and got totally submissive to Ted. Absolutely amazing.” John relived that moment right in front of me. Eyes wide and lost in memory.

 

“How did he know to do that?”

Brought out of his moment, He returned to his stoic personality. “Dunno, I didn’t ask.” John started walking down the hall again. And I followed once again. Taking one last glance at the pups.

\---

Once at the room, I got right to unpacking my few belongings. The room was alright. I think they were holding out on me though. John sat in a chair in the corner of the room, focusing on his small device. The space consisted of a single bedroom and a bathroom. Apparently, they didn’t expect me to be staying long, or at least not spending a lot of time in my room. 

Then a gross noise came from my stomach. I haven’t eaten for a good while. What time was it even? 4 PM! How did I even last this long without a snack? Must have been all the excitement. What do they even eat here at these bases?

For some reason, I looked over to John, who must of hear the grumble of my stomach too Because he was directing his attention to me now.

“So what do you have to munch on in this joint?” He let out a grumble. Raising a hand to rub at his eyebrows. What was his deal?

“We’re supposed to be going to the main terminal. After you unpack your things.”

“There is no way I can do such a delicate operation with no gas in the tank. If I mess up, that’s on you. Because you decided that I couldn’t have a granola bar.”

_ If I was going to be in a bad mood cause I didn’t have anything to eat yet. Then I was going to make everyone else just as miserable as I was. _

“Are you for re-”

I raised my eyebrows and nodded. “I’m Hyperion.”

  
  
  


The mess hall was not as large as I expected for a base this massive. More of a communal area with a few benches and a variety of vending machines. Indicating that the staff doesn't take long lunches. Styled with dark blue colors accompanying the constant Hyperion pallet. Most of the vending machines were grab and go snacks, and then some with tv dinners. Around a good 10 - 15 people co-occupied the room with us.

 

I chose to go to a vending machine which its contents contained a lot of fruit. Fruit snacks, granola bars, raisins, this is my kinda snack machine. I enjoy the flavor of sweet stuff like this. Vaughn tells me it’s to some extent, ‘girly’. But I don’t think so. I honestly enjoy frappuccinos and pina coladas. A real confident man isn’t ashamed to like sweet things. How the hell do you even drink straight up vodka?

“Your kinda of a twink aren’t you.” An accented voice asked behind me. The sound of my goodies dropping down to the bottom of the machine. The jab was not alien to me. Quite a few people liked to call me that. Still, it got under my skin.

Retrieving my rations, I turned around to face the person. A black infantry man sat at a picnic table, dining on a lasagna. Across from him, another soldier sat. Shoulder length black hair and sharp glasses characterizing the employee. The dark man grinned my way, signaling he was the rude commenter.

“Nah man, I’m just a guy who likes the taste of lemon and strawberries.” Shrugging my shoulders at him. Didn’t feel like getting into a whole pissing match with this dude.

“You're just kidding yourself now, a fruity loop like you? I’m not the type of person to say things I don’t believe myself.”

Who does this guy think he is?

“I can tell what you're thinking my friend. You're asking yourself ‘who is this guy?’ Kelly Christoff is his name.” Then he continued eating.

Deciding to ignore the annoying man, I went back to gathering my midday lunch. Inputting a code into a vending machine for a T.K Baka blast coffee, bringing the can to my lips I slurped it loudly.

This is gonna bother you, Rhys. Don’t carry this with you. You know you need to talk to him.

I turned on my heel, aiming directly for his table. As I neared, I decided to sit by the soldier seated opposite of Kelly. They made no indication of acknowledging my existence. I set my meal on the table to eat with them. Kelly who was already a good 3/4ths finished with his tv dinner gave me a small wave.

 

“Welcome back robo-boy, did you happen to bring any Skittles with you?” He stretched his arms out. Messing with the Hyperion armor to better lay on his form, doing a little dance. The bright yellow armor very worn and scuffed up.

“The name’s Rhys,”

I turned my head to the person beside me. A picked at salad sadly dismembered in a tray before them.

“Do you know this guy?” I asked exasperatedly.

At first glance, I thought it was a girl. But it seemed more like they grew their hair out, and cut two eye holes. Shiny purple eyes glinting behind glasses. A look of disdain directed to me. An animosity potent between us. I couldn’t tell if it was because of my attitude towards Kelly. Or my presence in general.

“In a sense I guess. That would be like assuming we're friends just because we buy water from the same vending machine,” He replied, clicking his tongue.

What does that even mean? Was it an insult to the other guy or me?

“Ouch,” Kelly reached up and gripped his chest as if he was shot.

Were they friends or not? The familiarity was there, but that could have just been because they were perhaps in the same platoon.

“Don’t worry about Otto; he’s just constantly menstabatng... You know, pissy and snappy when he doesn't get his chocolate bar and whatnot.” Kelly gestured to the hostile man.

“Menstruating, that's how you pronounce that. I’m more offended by the mispronunciation than the original remark.

“Fuck you, did I pronounce that right?”

A rattling resounded above in the structure of the walls. Clanking and tumbling noises echoed in a cacophony. We all heard it, swiveling our heads in confusion of figuring out the source of the sound.

“What the hell did you do now?” Otto snapped.

“No-listen-That's not me! I know you th- nope!” Kelly tripped over his words. Gesturing wildly to support his statements.

 

I forgot what I came here for all together. Getting up to excuse myself from the duo. I got the feeling that they would leave a lasting impression on me. A story I could bring up while recalling these events at a company party to get a few laughs.

“Is the sensor acting up again? Tracey get over here,” a burly techie yelled. A janitor jogged to his side, looking at the closed door. Then they started jumping up in front of the door, waving their arms about wildly.

Another group of people was at the east exit of the room, the automatic door staying shut in spite of them. John waved from across the room, and I started towards him. When suddenly the room was engulfed in darkness.

People started shouted, and panic erupted around the room. I was still walking and stumbled on a chair. I grappled for anything to hold onto as I fell on the ground.

I brought up my cybernetic arm in front of me, turning on my hand light. I moved it in front of me to light up the area around me. A figure suddenly moved into my light. It was so startling I screamed.

“AHHHH!”

“AH!”

It was Kelly, grinning like a maniac. Why was he here in front of me?

“Geez you scared me inspector gadget, go easy on me. I don’t handle frights well my dude,” He wheezed out.

“What are you doing here?”

“I come here to eat, duh,”

‘I’m talking about you being four inches from my face!”

“Oh yeah, that's because you have a light,”

It was then I noticed that Kelly’s forehead was glistening slightly.

“Hey, is that suit of yours hot?” I inquired.

His eyebrows raised as he seemingly realized something.

 

“Yeah, I tend to sweat a lot. But now that you mention it, I do feel hotter than usual,” Then he reached out and grabbed my forearm, pulling me up onto my feet. I gazed around the room, and some people had already turned on micro lights from devices. Illuminating small parts around the chamber.

“This is definitely a level up from the other times; it’s usually just lights flickering or doors taking longer to open.” Kelly murmured.

I could tell the difference now; the air conditioning was off. The doors aren’t responding, and the lights were off. Was the whole base like this or just the one room we were in? Is this implying that the electricity was off?

_ I’m here to fix this, that’s what I need to do. If I remember correctly there was a terminal next to the door at the entrance we came in. _

I aimed my hand on the floor before me and looked around for the terminal. A few workers were banging on the metal door, hollering for help. Some turned to look at me, eyes wide with terror.

Quick footsteps approached from behind me with a sharp ‘damnit.' I heard the clattering of a chair followed by a thump. I shone my light behind me to see who it was.

“Don’t point that in my face! ”

“Oops, sorry,”

John stood up from the floor and brushed himself off, momentarily giving me a ‘stink eye.' Then he dug into his vest pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

“This is the maintenance login you need to do any of your wacky hacky business,” John explained handing me the paper.

“You couldn’t have given this to me earlier?”

“You didn’t ask,”

I turned away and closed in on the terminal, inputting the maintenance login.

**-Insert command-**

**-SyTs1m Øv3eR1D-**

**> Denied**

 

What the hell?... No problem, I'll just go through admin first. Imputing a few more command prompt codes. A small window appeared on the bottom left of the monitor.

**[Øi CØd3 BrØ, WhAtUp (⌐■_■)]**

It hurt my eyes reading the text. Was it part of the virus or a live message? Thus deciding to ignore its existence. Ok, now I can go about trying to restore control back to the server itself.

**-Power-   Air circulation   Door 1,2,3,7**

**> Denied/Another System Admin is on the server already**

So now it could be confirmed this was a live hacking.

**[DØ yØu Lik3 b33r Ør milk yØu Pu55y ;P ʢ◉ᴥ◉ʡ LØL!!1111]**

But now I had to figure out how to kick him off or disconnect him in some way. Maybe I could DDOS and force him out by crashing the server. And get logged in before he can. Yeah, that's what I'll do.

I went about sending large bits of encoded data to the motherboard for it to Decrypt. Till I saw a blue light crackle for a moment and all at once my muscles were on fire and I was flying back. Landing painfully on my side. Everything tingled and my fingers were numb.

John and the others looked from me to the computer. Just as stunned and confused as I was. Kelly came over to grab me by the back of my collar to hoist me back on my feet.

"Hey, short circuit, did you fix it?"

Shaking my head to clear my mind, and straightening my clothes. I peered over to the monitor, gritting my teeth as my eyes landed on a rude collection of symbols.

**[ U maD BrØ ¯\\_ツ_/¯ ]**

Yes I was. Very upset in fact. Like I was gonna let this prick get to me. Stomping over to the computer I hit enter a few times. And suddenly the terminal shut off.

A quiet silence falls over the room. The subtle grinding of parts moving in the walls. And a sound of some vast machine starting up above overhead. I looked up at the ceiling and the fluorescent bulbs flickered. Then the lights finally went on fully.

People mumbled to each other behind me. Which shushed quickly as a clanking echoed in the walls.

 

_ Vnnnn _

The air came back on. Cool air ghosted in from the vents. I turned my attention back the black screen. A wide grin stretching across my face.

"HAH! I GOT YOU ASSHOLE!" I clenched my hands shaking them. "That's why you don't mess with Rhys!" I turned around to the other employees. Placing an arm on my side. 

"See it's not so hard. Just gotta let it know who's boss."

"Well done robo-boy. Gotta say I really didn't think you could. You seem like the type to talk out your ass." Kelly gave me a single clap.

I shot a glare at him.

John walked up to my side and leaned in next to my ear.

"Did you stop it all or just this one area?"

"Just the one," I replied.

"We need to go to the maintenance area. That's where the majority of the software is." He made his way past me to the door at the far left of the room. I tailed close behind. As well as a few other foot sets joining us.

"Rhys where you going?"

Looking over my shoulder at the residents of the base. Kelly and I think Otto, was that the dude's name? Were among us now.

"Wha- you guys. Go away and do whatever is you people do." I closed the distance with John more. Gesturing a shoo at the annoying staff.

"Maybe we just happen to be going the same way as you. You don't know my life."

The hallway opened up to more open and larger hallways. Needing space for who knows what. More reinforced glass cages. As well as more scientists standing together in groups were dotted around. More frequent in this part of the facility. Lots or large cables hung on the walls and ceiling like spider webs.

I stared agape at how messy it looked. John pulling my cyber arm so I was still going the same direction as him. Walking finally into a giant room. A Lot of people focusing heavily on their duties. Also having a sufficiently higher amount of armed robots and guards. We entered from a raised platform entrance. I peered over the overhang. Awestruck at the creatures inside the containers. These must have been what were called bad-asses. Their figures defiantly gave off a certain demand for respect as well as fear. My eyes ogled each distinct monster. I leaned even farther over the railing careening my neck to get better visual. Suddenly a strong hand grabbed the hem of my pants jerking me backward. My momentum carrying me into my attacker. Hard armor stabbing into my back. Their hands then grabbing my shoulders to push me away. I turned around as soon as he let me go I turned to face him. Otto was giving me a disgruntled look.

 

"What are you doing?" I asked

"Waiting for you sir."

"Oh." Looking at the two infantrymen before moving away from the railing to go to John. As soon as I started to him he began walking. The overhang walkway continuing to the right of the wall. An open space in the wall itself. Inside sat a complex collection of circuitry and computers. As well as monitors lining the wall with each its own visual, graph, or mass of data. Tiptoeing over the cables and wiring on the floor as if it was a mine. I stood in the middle of the cluster of tech. Using my eye to figure out which terminal to mess with.

**Subject #1498 / Patty**

**Temperature controls for exhibit.**

Nope

**Secret Collection of Moxxi Porn**

**Password needed**

**hint. Fav girl**

maybe later

**Plans for getting Taylor to find me attractive**

That's sad

**Central Computer**

**Password required**

**(Reminder, guys when you're done please remember to turn off the mouse. Batteries are really expensive. It really puts me in a bad mood when I find it still on.)**

I walked over to the monitor and got to work. It was a standing computer so I had to bend over the keyboard. Hacking the password was easy. It surprised me when I saw John looking over the monitor at me. I guess making sure I was actually doing work. Already halfway done with the password.

**##ur %#$#it**

A loud sound rippled across the room followed by a scream. It was so out of nowhere I thought I imagined it. Standing straight up to look over the terminal. Otto was holding his arm and Kelly was standing in front of him aiming his gun at the ceiling.

A message appeared on the monitor.

 

**[ (╯*Д*）╯︵ ┻━┻ get wRekt m8]**

What the fuck was happening. All the monitors started glitching. A symbol now on now on all the screens. A green scythid bordered by a C.

**"Wow, that was aweSOME! That totally came out of nowhere huh? Hahah! Guy was like 'what the fuck just happened'. The best really."**

Was this the hacker from earlier? It had to be. How did he shoot Otto? John was looking at me, confused and frightened, staring from me to the screens.

**"I think your name is Rhys right? Yeah, I did some research on you. And gotta say. You're a bit brighter than those other noobs. Much respect bro."**

I was frozen where I stood. Trying to fathom what exactly was happening, a stone sitting in my stomach. Somehow I could feel like something really bad was about to happen.

**"By the way, you can call me Caustic. Not a formality I share with any prick. So yah; your welcome. I have a good feeling about you homie. So and I are gonna get to know one another a bit better."**

**"Things are gonna get pretty toasty in a few seconds. Hide your kids parent’s! And slap a Parental Advisor on this shit. Explicit content incomingggg."**

A siren went off, which never meant anything good. I could hear gunfire and yelling. My feet acting on their own as I went to get a better look at the overhang. To my horror, I saw that all the creatures were out of their cages. Going wild and attacking everything in their sight. Their savagery matched only by the raw power they possessed. 

"Ngh, go away Kelly and start doing your damn job for once."

Otto looked like he was about to bite Kelly. Hissing and snarling at his friend. If looks could kill, Kelly would definitely be dead from that death glare. Sitting against the wall, Otto held bicep firmly in a vice grip. His right arm was bleeding profusely, thick oily blood trickling through his fingers.

"Let me look at it before you pass out from blood loss you stupid idiot," Kelly snapped trying to grab Otto's hands away from the injury. Until the hostile man kicked his friend square in the chest sending him flying back, knocking the wind from Kelly.

 

"If you don't start killing those monsters before they kill us! I swear I'll shoot you myself! Otto spit, full of venom. Kelly rubbed a hand over his chest, staring wide-eyed at the angry man. Frowning he picked up his SMG and leaned over the railing to fire at the hostiles.

A large green Skag turned to face us, baring its mouth full jagged teeth. It’s whole plated body shook as it let out a guttural roar, running towards us. My muscles stiffened for a moment before I realized it couldn’t possibly reach us. It ran around in circles under the overhang.

“Shoot th- thing-Kelly!” I sputtered

“I’m shooting many ‘things,'” he rained a barrage of bullets on the Skag. Most of them deflected off and clattered to the metallic ground. The creature made choking, gagging sounds.

“It’s gonna spit!” Kelly cried out. He spun around and clotheslined my throat; we flew backward into the wall. Glowing green spit shot up, coating onto the railing and beams. A sizzling sound crackled as the metal slowly melted into pudge.

_ Creeeeeeeaaaakkkk _

The overhang under us began to vibrate.

“We need to move,” We scrambled up onto our feet, almost falling as the floor shook increasingly. I looked around for a place we could quickly dart into for safety. The computer room!

I sprinted into the computer room, looking behind me to see Kelly wasn’t with me.

“Kelly!”

When an answer didn’t come, I got even more worried. And found myself moving back to the overhang, stepping back into the wobbly floor.

**Breep breep**

You gotta be kidding me. My palm glowed to life, connecting to servers to start a video conference. I'd have to be crazy to give Jack the time of day in this situation. My eyes picked up on Kelly throwing his friend’s arm around his neck.

**“Hey kiddo! How's everything coming along? Super, fantabulous, or amazing? Anything else is not an acceptable answer if you want to keep all your fingers,”** I kept my hands clenched at my sides. Pulled between helping them and going back to safety.

**“Hey I can't see anything, how about fixing that would ya.”** His tone hinting impatience.

 

“Yeah um, working on it. Kelly! Get over here!”

**“What’s going on Reese, are you having a side conversation while on a call with your boss? Wh- hold on; is that gunfire I hear? And screaming.. what is going on over there?”** His tone changing to one less demeaning. 

_ If he finds out what's going on, he's gonna blame it on me. Because I was supposed to prevent this kinda thing from happening. _

“Nah ma- Jack, that's just the uh- security team practicing. And the scrE-”

The overhang lurched to the right, making me fall onto my knees and elbows. The sound of metal whining rang through my ears.

**“Rhys! What's happening!”**

I went to open my mouth to reply, but the snap of metal giving way quickly shut it. A grinding feeling crawling up my body and into my bones. I screwed my eyes shut at the awful nauseating sensation.

There was a brief feeling of weightlessness, the ground underneath me disappeared. I opened my eyes to see a railing coming toward my vision. The next thing I knew there was a horrible pain on my forearm and all the air being forced out of my chest. And Jack… yelling in my head…

  
  
  


**“Bzzzt”**

**“ZzzztRhzzz”**

**“Bbzzxt Rhys!”**

When I opened my eyes, I was staring at the ceiling. Somehow a familiar pattern that coincided with me being on Pandora. Not ever waking up on on a comfortable bed, or without confusion. I rolled over onto my cybernetic arm, looking over the room again. Everything coming back like a bad nightmare after you try and go back to sleep. And what was even worse was a stalker noticing that I was still alive, making a decisive move in my direction. Bright gunfire flashed as the battle raged on for the security team trying to contain them.

I flipped onto my stomach, my forearm throbbing with stinging sensation, almost knocking me back out, tears forming in the corners of my eyes.

 

_ I have to figure out a way to defend myself. I left my baton in the room, so that's not an option. Maybe I can pick up a gun off of one of these dead guys. _

Just ahead I could make out a rifle, only a few feet away. Using my cybernetic arm, I pulled myself toward it. Afraid to agitate the monster by standing up.

The rifle was in my grasp; I'm gonna shoot this ugly bastard right in its dumb face.

A stream of bullets hit the ground ahead of me. The bullets came from the turret security system in the ceiling.

**“Great job hanging in there! You might just have a chance of making out of this alive,”** Caustic cackled over the speaker. 

I snatched up the rifle and aimed it at the stalker; it was almost on top of me. I remember how to shoot a gun from small training sessions with Sasha, though I never intend to carry, let alone own one myself.

Aim at the desired target, line up the sight,

Draw the barrel back,

Turn off the safety,

Pull the trigger,

Click,

…..

Kachick, click,

…..

It's jammed, as in it’s broken, and I have nothing to defend myself with. I dropped the useless metal and moved backward, trying to create more distance with the monster. The stalker quickened its pace as it glided over dead bodies. A light coat of blood covered its body, as well as its own wounds showing. Large bullet holes had punctured its thick hide; bubbly blood seeped from them.

It let out a clipped trill as it stumbled forward, falling flat on its stomach. I took the opportunity to rise to my feet and get away from it.

 

Looking to the overhang behind me, it bent downward a seventy-degree angle. There was no way I could climb it to get back to the computer room.

Instead, I decided to try and find another terminal attached to some machine or wall. I stole one last glance back at the stalker. A man mistaken for a corpse earlier was clinging to its back leg, shouting unintelligible curses and taunts. The stalker whipped its head to the side to snarl at the nuisance; screwing its gnarled teeth into the soft human flesh.

_ Thanks for giving me the head start. _

Running the opposite way from the stalker, I headed away from the clusterfuck of death and carnage. To the other side of the room where there were large crates of supplies, and hopefully there’s a device connected to the network. The sizeable towering boxes would conceal my presence from the monsters;  _ I said to myself confidently _ .

I took a hard right down one of the aisles; my boots slapped across the tile.  _ ‘Oh god boots don’t slap.’ _

_ Oh fuck there's blood, and that’s bad, I'm gonna get killed by some leathery animal, and I should have just went into sports like my dad wanted. _

A vicious wake of coagulated blood led up and over the crates. I hurried down the aisle, ready to jump at the first sign of danger. I spotted a closed off area with a terminal; my ears picked up the sound of claws above me, so I hastened my pace.

Once entering the small space, I closed the door behind me. The room appeared to be used to power the cage barriers, a distinct buzz of electricity in the air had my hair on end. There was a control panel against the wall, no apparent keyboard, so I linked my cybernetics to it.

**-Power routing ##-**

**> Guest/Back**

**> Guest/Access network **

**-Secure connection established-**

**> Guest/Power route to #1**

The lighting and power dimmed, it must be processing the command. As the terminal restarted, I heard a growl just behind the wall in front of me. I backed up into the fencing behind me, not wanting to grab the creature’s attention. An arm draped over my shoulder, one I recognized.

 

“Oh John! Glad to have you here, I actually forgot about you for a moment,” I put my hand over his arm and moved away from the fence. And somehow his arm stayed with me…

I let out a terrified cry and dropped the arm. And whatever creature that was patrolling slammed its body against the door, caving it in somewhat.

_ The lights dimmed again. _

The monster let out a shriek and threw itself into the door again; I couldn’t help but scream as fear overcame me. I crawled under a desk and curled up to hide in case it came in. Another few attacks landed, as well as scraping sounds pawing on the door. Then a different loud bang, and finally silence.

_ The lights dimmed again. _

The knob turned, and a figure entered, I tucked my head into my arms,  _ please don’t kill me. _

“Hey! Get out of there,”

Peering from under the desk, Otto stared back at me. Crawling out I brushed my legs off.

“You got a job to finish Rhys,” He prodded me with a shotgun then stood vigilant at the door entrance. His arm rested in a makeshift sling, damp with blood. Apparently worse for wear since last saw him.

_ You got a job to finish Rhys _

I heard that before, but can’t remember where. 

_ The light dimmed again. _

At the terminal, I input my credentials.

**> Rhyz W1nz/Admin/ Restore to earlier date.**

**[Enter]**

“Heh, I win, asshole,”

The screen flashed a message before rebooting.

**-GG-**

Over the next few hours, there was a significant amplification in gunfire. Then it quieted down more as time when on. I returned to curl up under the desk, and just, waited. I wanted it all to hurry up and be over, to go back to Vaughn, and have it all return to normal. My eyes would catch the arm ever so often.

Otto would also approach me, yet I couldn’t focus on what he was saying or understand the words. Eventually, he gave up after awhile.

  
  
  
  


I was awoken by a soldier shaking me awake.  _ When did I fall asleep? _

“Are you injured sir?”

As my senses came back to me, my arm ached, it felt so cold. I groaned as a response to the man.

“Report to the medical wing,”

I scowled at him and left the room, upon leaving, I observed staff cleaning the area. Placing tarps over the dead and hauling the larger creatures out to be disposed of. If my memory is correct, the medical wing is south of the commons. As I passed by the center open area, next to the collapsed overhang, I noticed a group of perhaps forensics, looking over a body and scribbling.

“Dumbass wasn’t wearing his dog tags, what a dick, if he didn’t bother with protocol, is it worth even trying to figure out who he was?”

“Maybe he didn’t have any family who would care if he was dead or not,”

Now that I focused on where they were, it was the same exact place of the soldier that held the stalker back. My feet took me closer to them, on closer examination, a vivid macabre painted the scene. An arm barely hung on by the smallest of tendons and muscles from the shoulders. Copious amounts of chewed up flesh hung off the neck, all of this overlayed in blood too long exposed to the air, a dark russet red, crystallized and crusty.  _ Nonetheless, I recognize you- _

“Kelly Christoff,” I mumbled. One forensic gestured for me to come closer.

“Come again friend,”

 

“His name, was Kelly Christoff, a good guy,” Another forensic put a pen to his lips and squinted down at the corpse.

“Ah! Now I remember what he looks like, thanks a ton mate!”

Nodding my head, I took one final look at the corpse,  _ thank you, for saving my life. _

\------------------

The medical bay was white… Like way too white, eerily devoid of color. Maybe because it was easier to find dirt or the designers of this particular area were lazy. The department was also rather small, compared to the vast large research and experimental unit. It was apparent that they weren’t used to having an abundance of patients, there wasn’t even a waiting room built in, when I arrived, there was a line spilling out into the hallway.

Once I got in, a man escorted me down a corridor past gurneys to a room. People writhed half dead on the gurneys and tables, some partially melted from fire or acid, others shaking violently as their friends tried to stop their profuse bleeding.

I was taken care of relatively quickly, they fixed me up and sent me on my way. On my way out my receiver picked up a transmission.

**BREEP BREEP**

**Incoming Call From Handsome Jack**

**Receive? -YES/YES**

**“Rhys! What took you so long! I was- I’m really pissed!”** It was pretty loud in the medical bay with all the crying and wailing, but his voice was nevertheless loud and dominating. I held my arm up close to my face.

“Hello si- Jack, yes, um, I was knocked out for a bit, and then I fixed the hardware issue you wanted. And uh-,” I was trying to talk quietly to not attract the attention of the people around, cause it’s weird to talk to yourself/your hand. And because there are so many people crowded in the area I had to maneuver around them.

**“Tell me what happened earlier, actually, no. Forget that shit! I’m coming down there myself; and don’t you dare move,”**

“Jack wait! Holdonlisten,” However Jack had already hung up, and glancing around a few heads were turned, giving me a puzzled expression. I raised my arm to scratch the back of my head.

“My uh… dad called,”

 

  
  
  
  


I sat on a bench in the hallway outside the infirmary, gurneys continued to come in and out of the doors, quite a few had white blankets draped over the tables. The familiar condescending female voice rang across the structure.

**Current death count is at approximately 56, with injured being at 73.**

I screwed my fingers into my hair,  _ did I help cause all this? I don’t think I did… Or at least, I didn’t mean to. But Handsome Jack might blame everything on me, after all, I was supposed to prevent all this bad shit from happening. Oh god; he’s gonna kill me. _

_ This Caustic guy, who is he? Is he the cause of all the bases experiencing malfunctions? I need to find out more about this man, maybe-maybe Fiona and Sasha know something. _

Bringing up my cybernetic hand, I sent a call to them.

  
  


**…...establishing a secure connection….**

“Hello, Sasha? Fiona?”

**“Hey Sash, look who finally decides to call,”** In the background, I heard a muffled ‘no kidding.' A smile couldn’t help but form on my face; truly I missed them being around.

“Hey guys, it’s so great to hear your voices again, s-,”

**“EXCUSE YOU! Are you even gonna explain why you haven’t returned any of our calls or messages? It has been weeks you jerk!”**

“But, I haven’t got any calls or messages from you guys, I swear,” Thinking back on it, I wondered if it was the filter I installed to get rid of spam.

**“Whatever you say you corporate monkey, well, yeah the first couple were just to see how you're doing, and then some stuff has been going down here, AND WE’VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU!”** Sasha in the background commented ‘You just spit everywhere.’

“I am so sorry guys, I really am,”

We all stayed silent for a moment until Sasha spoke up.

 

**“We know, you can apologize by sending some money our way. Anybutts, we just wanted to tell you someone has been messing with Hyperion tech down here, as well as other machines. People suspect it is caused by one person as they leave a signature behind,”**

**“** A green scythid bordered by a C,”

**“That’s right, how do you know?”** Fiona piped in.

“We just had a situation here, do you know anything about a man named Caustic?”

**“Sorry no, never heard of him. So why did call by the way?”** Fiona asked.

“Well, I thought you might know something about Caustic, you’re linked into the network with people. And I need to find out more about him, it's important,”

**“Where are you right now?”** Sasha spoke up.

“Oh uh, I’m on Pandora, Wildlife preserve,”

**“Awsome! Were nearby, we can pick you up at Rusty's shop in the highlands,”**

“Ok, sounds good,” And they hung up.

Yet..

_ How am I gonna get to Rustys? _

\--------------------

I exited the building and walked onto the dockyard. Massive cranes towered above, transporting crates back and forth across the landings. There was plenty of military units stationed outside, directing actions, by gesturing to each other in a secret interpretive dance. Giant ships buoyed up and down in the water.

I knew that everyone drove vehicles to get around easier. Yet I have never used one myself, even on Hyperion where we can ride Segways. Sure I could give it the good ol’ college try, but I would rather someone with experience drive a car running at 60 mph.

A dark burley man was shouting on top of a crate, stomping on a poor innocent clipboard.

“Gad dwamnit Lyan! Yuuud fwacked up fur da last tyme yuu stewpid muthr fawkr! We halv shit to dew and! AND! Yur pussyfuutng awoud!” The man raged on, spit frothing from the side of his mouth, the man appeared to be of a superior rank, bright yellow stripes were tattooed up his neck. His jaw was crooked; a scar dragged up the side of his face.

 

A platoon of soldiers stared up at the Commander, they all look identical when they wore their helmets.

“Are you positive it was Ryan?”

“Yeah I thought he was on his paid vacation,”

“We get a paid vacation?”

“I got an ‘all books only books’ membership,”

“You can read? Then why did you say you couldn’t tell me the difference between sky blue and baby blue.”

“I’m colorblind, that’s a whole different thing,”

“Who’s colorblind? Sven is that you talking?”

“No no, I’m Michael,”

“Well I can’t tell through the mask, you both have the same voice,”

“I just wanna add guys, that I have a pension, how do get that membership card,”

The chief slammed his foot down on the side of the clipboard, and it went flying, soaring over their heads and into the sky.

“Shud up yu glabarg!” His speech devolved to slobbered sounds and grunts. One soldier stepped forward, holding out a bar to the commander.

“Commander Sawyer, your blood sugar might be dropping, have you had your nutty bar today,”

“Er uhh, (no I haven’t, thank you..)”

Trying to ignore the scene, I headed left, there had to be a parking lot of some sort outside, that would make sense anyway. I was wary of staying out of the way of the people doing their work.

“ON YOUR LEFT!”

I jumped and moved to the left.

 

_ BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE _

A man driving a forklift laid down on the horn behind me.

“OI! OI! ASSHOLE! Ya tryn ta piss me off!”

“AHHH! Sorry! Sorry!” I moved to the side out of his way; he whizzed by.

“Rhys?”

I turned around to see Otto sitting with a few other staff taking a lunch break. A bandage was wrapped around his right arm, and another placed above his left eye.

“You're okay,” I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Yeah,” The two other staff sitting on crates mowed down on tunafish sandwiches.

“He is pretty lucky, could've come out of that disaster much worse off. Were telling him to take it easy for now, we can help cover his duties.” A young blue-eyed man commented proudly.

“You better let us in on that worker's compensation, after all, we’re doing for you,” The other older employee added, shoving the rest of the sandwich into his gob.

“Hey Rhys, have you seen Kelly? They patched me up quickly and stationed me outside. So I haven’t been inside the interior in awhile.”

_ Oh… _

I opened and closed my mouth, dropping my gaze to the group, unable to meet his eyes.

“I understand,” 

I brought my eyes back up, Otto’s face kept stoic as ever, yet he seemed much older, tired even. The other two employees looked as if they felt uncomfortable, trying to busy their hands.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered.

_ I wanted to ask him if he knew where the vehicles were, however, I didn’t want to ask now.  _

Directing my attention to the blue-eyed man.

“Can you tell me where the vehicles are?

 

He stopped twisting the cap of his thermos.

“Oh uh, it’s on the other side from here, west lot. Why do ya ask stranger?”

“I need to get to the highlands, a place called Rusty's.”

The man looked me up and down, wrinkling his nose.

“You ever drive a technical stranger?”

“No, but-,”

“I’ll take you,” Otto declared, he jumped up and pushed past me. The other men who were trying to protest fell on deaf ears.

“Grab your shit and meet me there,” And he walked off.

\----------------------

We rode together silently, everything felt, awkward.

The car we drove didn’t provide much cover. It appeared to be a ‘jeep’ of some kind, lacking the polish of Hyperion branding; the edges were actually pretty sharp. The vehicle was a dark orange, sporting a vibrant yellow stripe wrapping around the car. A sizable machine gun was mounted on top, a long clip of ammo stuck out of the side, clinking together above.

The surrounding landscape was vast and open, as the name suggests, there were some; high land plateaus. Lush short green grass carpeted all the areas that didn’t climb up into jutting rock formations. Wildlife went about its business; these didn’t look at terrifying as the monsters earlier.

I looked over to Otto, he held the wheel with his good arm, absentmindedly driving.  _ More than anything, I wanted to ask how he was doing, but the air demanded silence.  _ It was Otto who spoke up first.

“How much farther is it?”

“Hold on, let me check again,” Bringing up my GPS, I check how much longer it would be. OK, so stay on the road, take a left on the double chin rock.

“Another twenty-five minutes still,”

“Shit,” He grumbles.

 

“I can’t do anything about it being so far away,” The car takes a sharp turn to the left, and I smack my head into one of the metal bars making up the skeleton of the car.

 

“Not you,” He remarks, pressing on the gas to accelerate. It was then I heard engines and shouting from behind us. A car closes in on our right side, a vehicle transporting four bandits. One stands up, looking as if he wants to board us.

 

“Otto we got trouble!”   
  
“I know; here,” He bends down to grab a pistol from his boot and shove it into my lap.

 

“Is it loaded?”

 

“No, its full of pez. Yes it's loaded!”

 

I pick it up and go to aim it at the enemy car. The bandit vehicle got closer, and the standing bandit looks as if he’s about to spring over. When an object comes plummeting from the sky, landing with a ‘twack’ on his head. The man goes limp and falls on top of the driver. The car swerves to the right and is out of sight, soon after we hear an explosion.

 

“Was that, a clipboard?” I comment.

 

“Yep,”

 

I leaned out the side to see three more cars tailing us.

 

“We can’t drive any faster or we’ll put ourselves in more danger than they pose. Shoot the drivers if you can,”

 

My stun baton was on my person, which I would rather use. However, I didn’t want to get up close and personal with these psychos. I aimed at the closed car and fired some shots. All of them missed, and just seemed to make them enraged, smacking the hood of their car.

 

“I’m gonna loot your body!”

 

“Take the wheel,” He commanded, standing up in his seat, he grabbed his rifle off his back. I reached over and grabbed onto the wheel, trying to steady it. The rifle let out a teeth-rattling bang, and another explosion erupted before long. Otto let out a yelp as his whole body shook.

 

“Hey! Are you okay?”

 

“Im-m fine,”

A car plowed into us from behind, and a psycho jumped onto the back of our vehicle.

“Witness me!”

The psycho lunged forward and swung his ax at Otto. Otto blocked the attack with his rifle, the ax scraped down the barrel, eventually digging into his hand. He clenches his teeth, refusing to cry out in pain. 

“Don’t you dare fucking let go of that wheel,” 

Up ahead the path, a spiderant limped on the side of the road, turning in circles. A shimmer in the middle of the road caught my eye.

Otto threw the psycho off the car, and sat back down in the seat.

“Alright h-,” And suddenly our windshield was covered in vibrant purple blood. The car shook as something was pulled under the tires, we began swerving, Otto grabbed the wheel; trying to regain control. But we careened to the side, driving off an edge; flipping into the air.

My face smacked into the windshield, and then… haze.

\--------------

I woke up to an intense heat washing over me; my head throbbed painfully. Taking a brief look around, I realized that I was upside down. And more importantly, the car was on fire! Looking to the driver seat, Otto was also hanging upside down in his seat, his chest rising and falling slightly. Immediately I began fumbling with my seatbelt, releasing the clasp and fell on my back.

A firm hand grasped the back of my shirt collar, pulling me out of the of the wreckage of the car. Panic and adrenaline heightened my senses. I squirmed against the offender as he pulled me along, digging my fingers in the dirt ground. 

The car exploded, and a sonic boom of noise pierced my ears. Glowing shrapnel arched through the air.

The ringing in my ears from the explosion muffling everything. My whole world at the moment sounded as if I was submerged under water. Gunfire still rang true through my muddled mind.

"LET GO OF ME!" I yelped. I propelled myself off the ground to launch a scissor kick into the enemy's face.

 

"AGHHhh Goddamit Rhys!" A warm liquid dribbled onto my face from above. Getting into my hazel eye. The grip on my shirt released. And taking advantage of my freedom I scrambled to my feet. Ready to haul ass as far away from the crisis as possible. The world swayed nauseatingly in my vision. Putting one foot in front of the other until a strong force impacted with the back of my knees. Buckling my legs under me sending to the ground, flat on my stomach.

I placed my fore arms up next to my head to raise myself off the ground. Then a large calloused hand grabbed the back of my head and shoved my face into the earth.

"Can you stop fucking moving for a second! You're a lot more trouble than your worth sometimes, you know that?!" the husky voice hollered above me. It's Jack... he's here. My face was pressed into the dirt so I couldn't see what was happening. But the vibrations in the earth hinted explosions. And the clapping in the air came from guns being fired.

"Rhys we gotta get to better cover. I'm gonna grab your arm so don't kick me again!" Jack yelled. Grasping my robotic bicep, pulling me into a crouched sitting position. We shuffled backward to a large boulder., darting behind as bullets dotted our trail.

My back was rested against the boulder. While Jacked reloaded his pistol, with a flick of his wrist, he closed the open magazine case. Peeking from behind our cover to return fire. Something in my subconscious causing me to reach out to grab his jacket. Noticeably flinching for a moment. Looking back over to me. He retreated to my side.

Azure and moss eyes locking with mine.

"You okay there kitten? He flashed me a toothy grin. My gaze falling to his mouth. A gouged bruised lip glistening with blood. His teeth slightly red.

I nodded hazily. The ringing still resounding in my head.

"I'll be right back, so do me a favor and take a smoke break or somethin." Then Jack ran away and out of sight. My mouth hung open, wanting to say words I was unsure what.

The sky was so, so beautiful. It looked as if it was on fire. Or was that the blood in my eye. I'll have to ask Jack when I see him.

\---------------

A heavy weight sat on my shoulders, and I felt really hot. There was a significant buildup of sweat on the left side of my body.  I tried moving and couldn't, letting out an annoyed groan from my throat.

"Good morning pumpkin." I cracked open my cybernetic eye. Gazing around groggily to collect my thoughts. The first thing I noticed was that Jack had his arm around my shoulders, holding me close. And that I was laying against his chest. The close proximity made me feel flustered. A red flush spread across my face.

 

"Oh, hey..." I shifted uncomfortably trying to create distance between us, but to no avail.

"What's wrong? Does it hurt somewhere?" Jack moved away get a good look at me. He started manhandling me, looking me over. The way he was just grabbing my arms, I thought I’d die from embarrassment.

I pulled my arms from his grip. And we just looked at each other.

Finally, Jack’s shoulders shook, and he started laughing.

_ Now that I had a moment to think, how did Jack get here? With all he did to help me so far, it didn’t seem that he wanted to kill me, saving me- OTTO! He was still; when it exploded. _

I must have been frowning because he gave me a confused look.

“What? Have somethin ya wanna say?”

“No i’m uh, how did you get here?”

His face twisted into something that of annoyed. My heart rate picked up, fearing for my safety in case I pissed him off. 

“Yeah, remember when I was like ‘hey Rhys, don’t go anywhere.’ How about that huh,”

I fumbled back,  _ do I reach for my stun baton? _

“So when I go through ALL THE TROUBLE of getting down here, to find that YOU aren’t there. Yeah, I think I have the right to be pissed. Then! Oh yeah, check this out, I have to find the ONE guy that knows where you're going, and his breath smelled like ass,” Jack has worked himself into a fit, snarling the words at me.

_ I have to calm him down, the last thing I want is to be his target of frustration. _

“I- I have a reasonable explanation! I have a lead, the bandits! Putting malware into your tech!”

His rage seemed to have dropped a few notches, instead his eyebrows furrowed in interest at my words.

“There’s a shop not too far away, and we have to get there,” My legs were tense under me, ready to react in an instant.

 

“Alrighty then! Let’s get our asses in gear; I wanna take care of them and get back to Helios before I forget the taste of stripper cake.” He stood up and started trekking up a hill.

“Moooove your asss!”

I sprung up and followed.

  
  
  
  


His car was parked behind a large rock formation; it looked just like the one Otto, and I were driving. Handsome Jack and I got in the vehicle, continuing the journey down the road.

He appeared very happy, smiling and carrying on about how he already thought up two hundred and five ways ways to brutally kill the people responsible for sabotaging Hyperion. After hearing number thirty-one, I tuned out his rantings. Deep in thought over the the upcoming events, this time keeping a neutral face to mask my contemplation.

“-human totem pole,”

That phase jarred me from my musing, what in the world was that;  _ no, don’t even ask Rhys. _

“That’s a favorite of mine, humiliating and painful. It’s tricky though to shove their head,”   
  
“NO! No no please don’t explain that one anymore!” I insisted, my hands were held up close to my ears. Whatever that is, I will cover my ears if I have to.

A mischievous smirk appeared on Jack’s face; he pursed his lips as he thought something over. It was how much thought he was putting into his next words that had me even more anxious.

“What has you cringing exactly? Is it the idea of someone's head disappearing up an ass? Or someone's ‘head’ disappearing in an ass?”

“OH GOD PLEASE STAP,” I recoiled in my seat, pulling my legs up against my chest. Jack just cackled hysterically; slapping the wheel.

I didn’t even have that second picture, to begin with, and the more I tried to NOT think about it, the more I did.

“Yeah that’s gross, you're gross for thinking like that, what else do you get up to in that mind of yours?”

 

_ I don’t ever think like that; you're the one putting these thoughts in my head! _

“Probably like, workspace fantasies, bending over the cute girl over your desk after hours?”

My face must have been scarlet red; it even began to feel tingly.

“OR! OR! Maybe you're the type who likes to be dominated, someone having complete control over you,” He howled with laughter, hooping and hollering.

I hid my face in my hands; it was all the more excruciating because  _ he wasn’t entirely wrong. I have had those thoughts once or twice... _

“There it is!”

Looking up I saw what he was referring to; a makeshift sign stood proudly on the side of the road.

Steely Dan’s

“Yep,”

We turned at the exit, driving up to the dingy building. Bright reflective paint decorated the outside to make it attention-grabbing, but it just looked tacky, like a really old queen pin.

Jack parked it a few feet from the apparent entrance. Then he turned to me.

“I’m gonna check it out first, maybe rough them up a bit. This might turn into something of a fun outing for us; we can wrap this chapter up and grab burgers and fries on the way back~,” He smiled brightly and patted me on the shoulder.

He jumped out the car and strolled up to the entrance. He placed a few delicate knocks on the door, a hand on his hip where a pistol hid snugly.

A thick ginger man sporting a bushy red beard only just began opening the door, when Jack pushed into it, throwing the man back. He walked inside and shut the door behind him.

_ Time to move. _

I left the car and swiftly began to jog past the building.

_ I told Jack that the location was Steeley Dan’s. I couldn’t have him with me when I met back up with Fiona and Sasha. There was just no way they would get along, Handsome Jack the devil himself, riding around Pandora with two con artists and a programmer, ridiculous. Still, Steeley Dan’s was VERY close to Rusty’s, from here on out, I have to avoid any contact with Jack. Because now, he’s gotta be pissed beyond belief at me. _

I held up my cybernetic arm and switched off the Hyperion wi-fi.

_ Sorry, Jack. _

  
  


_ You got a job to finish Rhys _

\----------------------------

 

I made it to Rusky’s ok, Sasha and Fiona couldn’t help but embrace me in a heartfelt hug. They explained that we were to head to Lynchwood, no specifics, perhaps they didn’t want to worry me about something.

We chatted for a while, exchanging stories and roasting each other. That said, I couldn’t help fall into a deep rest on the familiar sofa of the caravan. Riding out the rest of the trip to Lynchwood in slumber.

  
  
  


Fiona was the one who woke me, pushing me onto the floor.

“We’re here code monkey,”

“We’re here code monkey,” I replied mockingly.

Sasha drove the caravan into the settlement, I peered out through the window, taking in the town. It looked straight up from a western movie. Except a railroad practically cut the town in half. Uniformed men/bandits/ I don’t know, rode giant Skags as a mount, patrolling the place. And of course, a static female voice carried across the town.

**“You got me to thank that you're living in a town called Lynchwood. You know what Jack wanted to call this place? New New Haven. I love the guy, but he doesn't exactly have a way with words.”**

Sasha parked the car in the corner of town, we hopped out and began walking together to the saloon. She led the group, walking ahead but turning back to speak to us.

“Vault hunters have encountered quite a few of, what’s his name, candis?”

“Caustic, like the elemental effect,” I corrected.

 

“Yeah Caustic, I’m figuring that we talk to some of the vault hunters. Since Caustic came about, they have kept records on their encounters with the symbols. Trying to piece together this mystery, some said they found amazing loot by the symbols, others said it’s just traps. And the oddest so far is the term ‘easter egg,'”

“Weird,” Me and Fiona said in sych.

  
  
  


First we booked rooms at the inn, it’s been a minute since I had a good bed rest. Not to mention it was getting late in the day now. The girls had their own room separate from me. Afterwards we went to the town’s water hole.

We pushed inside into the saloon; the dirty smoke filled establishment was suffocating. In Helios, we could smoke sure, except the air filters cleaned the air at such a high speed you could barely smell it without the person blowing it right in your face. Here was another story, was there no ventilation aside from the front ‘door’?

A lone bartender stood behind the bar counter, he wore a white gentleman suit and had black sunglasses on his face. He appeared to be in his mid-forties, his all gray hair giving that away.

The saloon was half made of wood and half technology. The stark contrast of the wood table and mechanical chairs was fitting somehow. The hovering haze of smoke blanketing the interior tickled my throat, and I couldn’t help but let out a furious cough.

All the inhabitants turned to face us.

“Uh, Howdy,” I announced.

The customers shrugged and ignored us. Fiona let out a breath she was holding.

Sasha prodded my shoulder and gestured to the bar. A bulky blond man sat nestled comfortably at the bar, with his appearance he easily summoned his name to memory, Axton.

“That’s our first target,”

“Alright, let’s do the classic good cop, preferred cop.” Fiona glided forward; first, her walked changed into one that hinted ‘sexy.’ Distributing her weight to her feet, so her boots clacked steadily on the wood floor. She reached out a hand to ghost over the man's back; he noticed the gesture, and his gaze followed her as she sat down on his left. Sasha basically did the same, sitting down to the right of the blond, except she had a concealed pistol pressed into Axton’s side. I took a seat next to Sasha.

 

“You ladies sure don't know how to take a hint, showing your faces to me after what you did last time,” His voice was slightly gravelly; however the edge of confidence suggested, douchebag.

“Your not the type to keep a grudge Axton, even you should know that,” Fiona spoke silkily, she reached over and grabbed Axton’s drink, taking a sip of the beverage; her cheeks puff out. She looks as if she wants to spit it out, but instead swallows the liquid.

“Cant handle whiskey little girl?” He chuckles.

Fiona lets out a cough.

“Ahem, No, I hate apples in my liquor. If I want something sweet, I’ll have candy. Like an adult,”

Axton raises his hand to get the bartender's attention.

“Hey boss, the girls will have a mudslide, and the string bean over there,”

“An absolute pears,” I added.

“Really? Your a weak dainty thing aren't ya,”

“Perhaps, but I'm not fragile like your masculinity,”

“Got something you wanna say noodle man?” Axton’s eyes flashed dangerously.

Sasha pressed her pistol into his side harder, hardly speaking above a whisper.

“Control yourself, in case you forgot; I'm holding a gun.”   
  
“Nobody controls what I do! Nobody! Not even me! I’m out of control, but only I control that! And I don't give a fuck if you have a gun to my head, I'll punch a girl. These fists and turrets are rated E, for  _ EVERYBODY _ ,”

Boss returned, carrying the drinking in an elegant glass pyramid. Gently he placed each one on the counter and pushed them across to each of us.

“Not in my bar Axton, i’ll add the damages on top of your already existing tab,”

“Oops, sorry boss. Wait, I thought were even now. I promised you my first child, as reimbursement didn’t I?”

 

“Correct. And I was a fool to agree to that, seeing as how lacking your skills with women are. That agreement only covered a third of what you owe me.”

“Fine, you can have my soul or whatever next time.”

Sasha picked up her drink and slurped the contents.

“Sorry I forgot about you ladies, you're boring me to death. What do you want again?”

“Tell us about the last time you came across the ‘symbols,'”

“Alright sure, there’s an observatory I came upon crossing the border between the dead sands and the highlands. It’s hard to spot, the only reason I noticed it was because it was playing a loud noise. I could only get halfway up the building because the rest was sealed off,”

“Why do you mean by that?” Fiona pressed.

“There are these touch panels next to the doors, and they didn’t respond to anything I did. I even broke two, to test if destroying them opened the doors. There was also a few transparent frames I could see into the closed-off rooms. And I could see the ‘symbols’ on the monitors. There's honestly no reason for you to visit it because I cleaned that place out, I even took the chairs,”

“Anything else that stood out to you?”

“Honey, you gotta be more specific. I'm not the type of guy to ask alot of questions, a quality my C.O. commended me on,”

I finished my drink; the fruity biting beverage refreshed me.

“What did the building seemed to be used for?” I added.

“Ummmmm, well, like rather than study stars. It seemed that it sent signals or broadcasts. That's about all I can tell you. So do I get a cookie or something?”

“As a gesture of goodwill, I'll pay for this round of drinks,” I brought out my Hyperion express card and handed it to Boss.

“That's a surprise, by Axton's standards anyway,” And gave me back my card.

“Can you explain where exactly this observatory is?” Fiona asked.

“I’ll mark it on your map, no charge just this once~,”

 

Fiona handed him a tablet-like device, displaying a map.

“That wraps it up then, thanks for being so cooperative,” Fiona and Sasha both stood up and gestured to me to follow suit. I followed them outside onto the strip.

Sasha let out a sigh.

“I’d had hoped more vault hunters would be in town, all we got was that asshole. Anyway did that help any Rhys?”

_ I don’t know myself; overall we just don’t have enough information to go off. This observatory is all we got as a lead. _

“Yeah, it did a bit,”

Fiona visibly perked up.

“Axton said there were areas locked, can you hack into it so Sasha and I can loot it. Incentive y’know to help you on this mysterious quest,”

“Of course, like it’s basically a superpower I have, a really lame one if you don’t know alot about programming,”

“Anyway, it’s getting pretty dark now, we should turn in and get an early start tomorrow. Sasha and I have some work we need to pick up quick, so go ahead without us,”

“Oh I hope they have a shower now that I think about it,”

They walked off down the strip, leaving me with a smile. I returned to the tavern; the atmosphere inside soothed me. A grizzled woman stood ever vigilant behind the counter, though she came off initially fierce, she seemed nice.

I took the staircase leading up to the second floor, where my room was at. The wood flooring creaked under my steps.

_ Squeak squeak _

_ Room 2B _

I took the key out of my pocket and inserted it into the lock.

_ Click _

 

I turned the knob and walked into the dark of my room.

“Oh buddy, you really fucked up,”


	2. Anger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just a quick look for whats to come.

**Caustic Chapter 2**

Anger

Cold, sharp wind raked across the rocky outcrops. The sun was a welcoming friend this early in the day. However, despite the usual sight of the occasional dead psychos and bandits, this event was rather peculiar. Two psychos were each dragging a grievously mutilated body.

 

“Presents for mommy!” one exclaimed.

 

“Garters for guts!”

 

“Guts for garters!”

 

A shrill screech announced the attack by a small, lithe rakk, dive bombing the duo from the sky.

 

“Ooooh, a shooting star!” the psychos started swinging their buzzsaws wildly, slashing at the air around them. The rakk swooped down to fly over and ahead of them, landing on a figure.

 

“Greetings, piss for brains,” a male voice said mockingly. The man was very pale. Obviously, he didn’t see the sun very often. His hair was silvery gray, sporting a well-kept beard. Vibrant green eyes, and wearing a Maliwan hoodie. The rakk from earlier had its tail wrapped around his right arm, balancing itself to cling to his bicep. He raised his hand to rub the top of its head.

 

“I'll feed your skin snacks to my cockatiel!”

 

“C'est un très-bel oiseau,” the man replied. The psychos closed in on him. Making barely recognizable chainsaw revving sounds.

 

“Oops, hold on. Ahem,  _ It's time for THREE pounds of flesh _ !” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a brown paper bag.

 

“ _ Tasty finger treatises for my dearie _ ,” He threw the bag to the left psycho. It almost dropped it playing hot potato. When it finally had a firm grasp on the bag, it tore it open, squealing in delight on discovering the contents.

 

“Come to me, my pasty cake!” The other psycho noticed and went to wrestle for the goods.

 

Meanwhile, the man waltzed over to the bodies. He took a knee next to the one that seemed to resemble a female once. Deep gashes crisscrossed her body like Christmas garland. Her uniform colors were a crusted red from copious amounts of blood.

 

“You mongs ate the eyeballs again, this is exactly why we can’t have nice things,” He frisked the body up and down, stopping on the breast pocket, pulling out a small metal case.

 

“Tu rends ça beaucoup trop facile,” the man scoffed to himself. Then went about getting a similar case from the second one. A buzz saw was lodged deep into the victim’s skull.

 

The two psychos rolled all over the place on the ground, trying to kill each other over the contents of the bag.

 

“Love me, hate me - It all tastes the same!” he was probably gonna say more crazy shit if an ax didn’t replace the space in his head that ‘maybe’ held a brain. Blood and brain matter squirted out through his nose.

 

“Think my brain is missing that chemical that keeps you from wanting to throw axes into people's faces.”

 

“Filthy kill stealer! The psycho kicked the dead body off and charged at the man. In the same instant, the rakk dive bombed the psycho, momentarily stunning him. The man rushed him, flicking his wrist to reveal a butterfly knife. He plunged the blade into the gut of the psycho and dragged it up over the ribs to meet the throat, then just as quickly retreated away.

 

“This isn't the last thing I'll say!” But once he went to move, the seam of the cut ripped apart, spilling him across the dirt. The excruciating pain killed him instantly; his corpse fell into the mess. A wet slapping noise was the conclusion of ‘scuffle.'

 

“Силой милому не быть,” the man took in his surroundings once again, gazing at the carnage of bodies and gore surrounding him. Then he went to check to see if he was dirtied in this sudden exchange, including the bottoms of his sneakers.

 

After seeing everything was ship-shape, he broke out into a full-body laugh. It carried over the rocks and across the valley.

 

“Ah Q.T., I got impulsive again. Hahaha, man I fucked up. Now I gotta go find more psychos to bring me these bastards,”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos really help my determination to finish things.


End file.
